A young Armenian boy lives with his family in a small house on Santa Clara Avenue in the foreign district of a city in California. They have many trees in the yard, including two peach trees that they grew by accident when they threw pits into the yard. Once a year, the boy's sister Naomi brings some of the pink blossoms into the house and put them in a black vase. The boy's brother Krikor also planted a cactus tree. Every summer, a tractor comes down the street to even the road, and the family says see "here it is again" in Armenian. One summer, the boy's uncle, named Vahan, drives down from San Francisco in a brand new Apperson Roadster. Vahan is twenty-two at the time, and he has just become a lawyer. Everyone is very proud of him, and he gives the whole family rides in the car. The young boy thinks it is splendid that they have a lawyer in the family, that he has an Apperson Roadster, and he thinks that they are enterprising people. Vahan asks Krikor if he has a carreer picked out yet, and Krikor is embarrassed and says no. Vahan said that Krikor will study law. The boy and his family do not notice that time is passing because their house is solid and permanent. One afternoon Krikor comes home with a black satchel, and he is very excited. He takes out an instrument that he explains is a cornet. The family has always had a piano in the house, but never another instrument. Krikor practices the cornet diligently, but he is not good. The neighbors whisper when he is out that he is the one making all of the noise. The tractor continues to come each summer, and the walnuts fall from the trees and the family gathers them into boxes. The peach petals fall and Naomi puts them in the black vase. Imperceptibly, there is a change going on. One day, Krikor says that he has decided to give up the cornet. Less than a week later, he comes home with a bicycle. The bike is too big for him, and he has to ride it from under the crossbar. Their mother is scared that he will cripple himself, and says that he must buy a better bike. Krikor has been selling the evening "Herald" after school and saving up money. On his twelfth birthday, he buys a massive cake that takes the family a whole week to eat. He has never bought a cake before, so he thinks it is the right size. Krikor takes the bike back to the shop and trades it for a smaller one. Before long, the younger brother is riding the bike more than Krikor did, and they began to fight about it, wrestling each other. They begin to ride the bicycle together, because there are lots of brothers in town doing this. They make a path across the lot to a steep bank that they will ride down. The trees in the yard have grown a lot, and the boys have gotten new shoes and clothes, but when they see photos of themselves in the family album it does not seem as if anything has changed. One day, the boys are riding the bike together and they get to the big dip. While they are going down it, the front wheel of the bike cracks. The boys walk inside somberly, and their mother says that they have grown and they are too big for one bicycle now. Because of this incident, the boy and his brother suddenly remember all of the events that marked their growth. The boy remembers when he almost drowned in the river and Krikor saved him, and when Naomi was ill and they all prayed she would not die. He remembers when Vahan came to their house in a soldier's uniform and his mother sobbed when he left on the train. The young boy remembers when they learned that Vahan had been killed in France. He remembers selling newspapers about the war and the day that it ended feeling sick because it was over but Vahan was dead. All afternoon and evening after the wheel breaks there is almost no talking in the house. Naomi hums "Smiles" until she remembers that their mother asked her never to hum that song because Vahan had sung it. When they are getting ready for bed, Krikor says, "Wasn't it funny the way the bicycle broke under us?" They all start laughing about the event, and the younger brother does not feel happy but he soon begins to laugh until tears come out of his eyes. The younger brother suddenly feels as though he is a part of life and he at last knows how all things end. He sits on his bed and begins to cry. Krikor begins to cry too, and soon their sisters do too. Their mother says that it is no use to cry, and that they have always had their hardships and disappointments and they will always come out of them. When they are all supposed to be asleep, the younger brother gets up and looks into the parlor. He sees that his mother has taken Vahan's photograph from the piano, and she has placed it in front of her on the table and is weeping. She is swaying her head from side to side the way the people in the old country do.